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Showing Original Post only (View all)The US Invasion of Iraq Was a Crime and Its Perpetrators Are Murderers [View all]
The author of the following is a former prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney's Office and a past dean of the John F. Kennedy University School of Law.
The US Invasion of Iraq Was a Crime and Its Perpetrators Are Murderers
On the criminology of the Iraq War on its tenth anniversary
by Paul Savoy
Published on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 by Common Dreams
Ten years after the invasion of Iraq, it is astonishing in a nation dedicated to the rule of law that every aspect of the war has been debated except the relevant law.
SNIP...
The whole litany of excuses for the catastrophe in Iraq has been recited in the language of mistake and misadventure, as if the war were a tragic accident, like a colossal train wreck caused by an act of God.
SNIP...
In other words, a reasonably prudent president would have known from reading the NIE that as long as the United States did not attack or threaten to attack, Iraq posed no continuing threat to the United States, as the congressional authorization required. A reasonable president therefore would have known that invading Iraq would have been unconstitutional.
If President Bush knew he had no constitutional authority to go to war, then he knowingly broke the law and a properly instructed jury would have little difficulty in finding him guilty of murder. Even if he was not conscious of any wrongdoing, which seems more likely, a jury would still be warranted in finding him guilty, at the very least, of criminally negligent homicide if it found that his ignorance constituted a failure to perform the duties of his office with due diligence.
The mother whose dead body was found in the bombed ruins of Baghdad, holding her baby so tight they could not be pried apart and had to be buried together, can no longer be dismissed as "collateral damage." That mother and child, and the more than 3,000 Iraqi civilians killed directly by U.S. bombs and artillery fire in the first month alone, as well as the Iraqi troops killed while defending their country against an arguably unlawful and unreasonable attack, may have been victims of criminal homicide.
CONTINUED...
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/19-10
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The US Invasion of Iraq Was a Crime and Its Perpetrators Are Murderers [View all]
Octafish
Mar 2013
OP
He wouldn't be CIA if he is trying to defend Bush. Bush threw the CIA under the bus for his acts.
stevenleser
Mar 2013
#22
He ''covers'' CIA for TIME. As for what TIME Inc and the Media do on behalf of CIA...
Octafish
Mar 2013
#35
None of that means anything in this context. The CIA probably hates Bush. They would not cover for
stevenleser
Mar 2013
#37
It absolutely does. The real bosses stay in power, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.
Octafish
Mar 2013
#39
That's pretty milquetoast. I thought you said the CIA was pro-Bush and pro-Republican.
stevenleser
Mar 2013
#44
It's milquetoast because it doesnt rise to the level of what I thought you were suggesting
stevenleser
Mar 2013
#50
The CIA had actual 'reporters' planted in the media. Were you around during the Bush years btw?
sabrina 1
Mar 2013
#56
In what way did he throw them under the bus? He awarded Tenet the medal of freedom. nm
rhett o rick
Mar 2013
#54
Bush 'cleansed' the CIA and remolded it to his liking. He made sure to replace any dissenters
sabrina 1
Mar 2013
#53
I think he got some help from Cheney, but I guess that goes without saying.
rhett o rick
Mar 2013
#55
Lol, well as we all know, Cheney was the real president. Bush probably just did as he was told.
sabrina 1
Mar 2013
#57
Wait, wait! Saddam offered to leave for $1 billion? And we spent TRILLIONS on war to oust him?
tclambert
Mar 2013
#46
Here's an historic photo of a Japanese officer who oversaw water-boarding Allied POWs...
Octafish
Mar 2013
#51
I'd much rather see them incarcerated at Gitmo for the rest of their miserable lives. nt.
OldDem2012
Mar 2013
#8
It must be, as said with so many other issues, "It's all the fault of the Republicans."
AnotherMcIntosh
Mar 2013
#62
Remember Mark Lombardi, librechik? The artist connected bin Laden And Bush with his Art.
Octafish
Mar 2013
#58
And what do they tell us ordinary folks with no "on tap" high powered attorneys? Ignorance
shraby
Mar 2013
#32
+1, it's not like billions worldwide and clearly here in many cities didn't protest this action.
Lionessa
Mar 2013
#10
The statement that we are a nation dedicated to the rule of law is incorrect
mindwalker_i
Mar 2013
#12
These ticky fine points of law and humanity matter nary a whit to post-WWII America
indepat
Mar 2013
#29
It's a good thing we ratified joining the ICC and the killers can be brought to trial...oh, wait.
Tierra_y_Libertad
Mar 2013
#38